How One Tiny Hardware Store Turned Me Into a Customer for Life (and How You Can Too) | 665

Speaker A: This week I have had my hair cut. Whoop, whoop. Been to the shrink, attempted, uh, to replace my broken specs. Two pairs, actually. How clumsy of me. Was pleasantly shocked by a brewery and blown away by my local hardware store. Allow me to explain. Well, I said, welcome to a small business marketing show where successful small business owners share their souls. To take your marketing straight to the lead. Now, here's your host, Mr. Timbo. Hello, you motivated business owner. Welcome back to the small business Big marketing podcast. Timbo here. I have been out and about this past week getting stuff done, ticking things off my to do list, visiting businesses as a customer, as a consumer. But of course, with my marketing hat on, I just can't help myself. And in doing so, I want to share some experiences, good and bad, in the hope that the solutions that I offer up, the ideas that I have been confronted with, help build that beautiful business of yours into the empire that it absolutely deserves to be. Righto. Where do we start? Let's talk about a simple way to get a customer, uh, for life. Now, I've got a Mitre 10 hardware store five minutes from my home, and it's a really good one. I do love a local hardware store. I've also got a really big one 20 minutes from my home. You know, those really big ones that are all over Australia now. Of course, I'm always keen to support local businesses, but for some stupid reason, I know why I often find myself heading without thinking to the really big one, another 15 minutes from the really little one near my home. Why do I do that? Well, I think I do it because the really big one advertises so much that they force themselves onto your shopping list. And consumer behavior, um, theory has it that no matter what purchase decision we want to make, we have a shopping list of three brands in our mind because one of those three brands will meet the criteria. So that's what really, I think frequent advertising in particular does. But why do I keep going to the big one? It's, uh, so big. It's got far too much choice. I don't like choice, don't like having to choose. The service is fairly unpredictable at the big hardware store. You know, you find someone to, you know, uh, a customer service person in the big hardware store. You make eye contact with them and they quickly look away, like going, uh, don't ask me a question, I'm too busy. So you spend another half an hour trying to find that paintbrush or whatever it is yourself. And by the way, the sausages aren't that Good are ah, they. Anyway, all that has changed. I am now as of now and I always should have been doing this. I'm going to go to the small miter 10 store hardware store, five minutes from my home. Why? Because I had the most wonderful experience there last weekend. My beautiful Sarah loves painting at night. She has a beautiful old easel and guess what? I accidentally knocked it over and broke one of the three legs on it. I, I took that bit of wood split in two to my local Mitre 10, walked in with it hoping just two things. One is, hey, can I glue it or do I need to replace it? And if I can glue it, can you sell me some glue? That's what I wanted to do. Anyway, I walked in to my local Mitre 10. Immediately welcomed. The minute I walked in to the store, it was like walking to a Japanese restaurant. Hello. It was great. I love it. And I got service immediately. I asked if gluing would work and he said, yeah, I reckon it'd work. And he took me to where the wood glue was, only to find that there was a very big bottle of glue and not a small bottle of glue. And I didn't need a big bottle of glue. Anyway. I said, look happy to buy it as long as it can be glued. Happy days. Can you put the wood behind the counter, uh, with the glue? And I need to do some more shopping and I'll get it back. I'll pick up the glue on my way through and pay for it. Anyway, I did my shopping and got to the counter miter 10 and the guy had fixed the easel leg. He'd glued it, he'd attached it, he nailed it in, he clamped it and it was tickety boo, incredible. He said, you don't need the glue, mate. Certainly don't. Happy to pay for it. Happy to pay for your time to do it. Didn't want to know about it. It was all part of the service. Well, guess what? That simple little act of kindness has got me a custom has got them a customer for life. I will always go to the local mitre 10. Now I left them a Google review that took me two minutes. They love it. Plus I told Sarah I fixed the easel leg. Win win. Now, how can other businesses be part of this wonderfully simple marketing strategy that allows you to retain a customer for life? Something what I need you to think about when you're thinking about this idea is how can you offer high perceived value to your customer at very low cost to you? So, uh, the perceived value of what that guy did in fixing the easel egg is huge. I would have gone, bought the glue, gone back home, bumbled around the shed, you know, stuffed around and finally fixed it, maybe. Whereas he fixed it and it cost him nothing. Nothing. Probably enjoyed doing it. High perceived value at low. High perceived value to the customer at low cost to the business. It's a magic formula. A mechanic. If you're a mechanic, you could wash the client's car, your client's car after a service, or at the very least, wash their wheels. A Sparky could change a light bulb free of charge when they're inside someone's home. If you've listened to episode 433 of the Small Business Big Marketing podcast, you'll have heard Josh Nichols from Platinum M Electricians. He does exactly that. In fact, he's written a 21 step customer manifesto explaining all those little things. So that is a very good start. If you're wondering what to do in your business and how to get a customer for life and who doesn't want a bit of that, start applying that thinking. And if you do have a strategy for retaining customers for life, be sure to call the Small Business big marketing hotline, 048-001-5150. Right. O next little experience. Make your customers feel seen and heard. Do you know there's a key question on any good advertising brief that asks? Well, it doesn't actually ask. It's more of a statement. Provide a key insight into how your customer feels. Provide a key insight into how your customer feels. So, for example, if you're an accountant, quite possibly your customer feels confused. You know, all that tax stuff and ledgers and numbers and spreadsheets, it's daunting. They feel confused. Travel agents, more often than not, your customers are feeling excited. They're coming in to book a holiday. If you're a leak detector, your customers are worried. Why am I laughing? Because I've had a couple of leaks under my concrete at home, if you know what I mean. Uh, that worried me hugely, so I had to call a leak detector. If you're a psychologist, possibly most likely your clients, your patients, your customers are feeling troubled. These are key insights into how your customers feel. If you are a barista, you have customers that are probably in a hurry and are stressed and want to get their coffee and get out of there. If you don't know a key insight into how your customer feels, then simply ask them. And sometimes there'll be a feeling of mixed emotions. You know, um, if you're a builder Your customer might be excited, confused, uninspired, all sorts of things. But here's the thing, team. The right answer to this question will show genuine understanding of where your customer, uh, is at. And in knowing where they're at, it will inform or it can inform if you allow it to. Your messaging things like your headlines, your website copy, your brochures, your sales pitch. It'll also inform your customer service approach how you go about dealing with a customer. If you're an accountant and you know your customer, your clients are confused, then act that way. Acknowledge that they're confused and let them know that you're here to unravel their confusion. Knowing key insights into your customers can also determine who you employ, determine your HR strategy. So so much more beyond marketing. So many important aspects of your business can be positively influenced by just simply knowing how your customers are, ah, feeling. So maybe you have a key insight about your customers and how it influences your marketing. I'd love to know it. Go and share it. 048-001-5150 and let us all know, the more we create this wonderful pool of shared marketing knowledge, the more of us are going to build beautiful businesses that we absolutely love. Understand your customers, team. You'll have a customer for life. All right, allow, uh, me to have a little sip. Don't worry, it's water. All right, uh, next, I want you to be seen as the best problem solver, uh, in your industry. Allow me to explain. I had an experience this week at my local optometrist. I broke two pairs of prescription glasses in the last week. Can you believe it? That is super clumsy and I'm very annoyed with myself. But I did it. What it means is that I can't see. Well, that's not true. But I do rely on my glasses in order to be able to make sense of the world. Yes, I've got some cheapo reading glasses, but I need these prescription glasses. I can't really live without them. I am at the moment. Well, actually, no, I'm not. Let me explain that in a minute. But it was a real pain breaking these glasses. So I thought, oh, that's okay. Local optometrist, they are going to be able to fix them immediately. Replace the, uh, you know, the lenses and everything. Get it all fixed immediately and I will be in good shape not to be. I rang them first before going in. Guess what? Two weeks, Two week replacement time. No discussion, no negotiation, no empathy, no like, oh, you poor thing, you mustn't be able to see. Let me see. What we can do. Maybe we can short circuit that. Nope. It was a very quick phone call, and that was it. So I thought, you know what? I'll go into the store. That's what I'll do. I'll go into the store and I hope they'll feel sorry for me. Nope, same thing. We will have to book it in. It'll take two weeks to get a new set of specs. Then I had a brainwave. I had a brainwave, not the people at the store. I had a brain wave. It was pretty simple. What about if I bought a new frame and you put the old lenses in? Genius. You can't teach that. Anyway, that is exactly what happened. $209 later for a new frame, less my health fund, you know, rebate. It was quite cheap in the end, and I walked out of the store. Being able to see didn't bump into anything. It was amazing. The bottom line, just because it's always been done a certain way, no matter what we're talking about in your business, it doesn't make it right. There's gotta be a better way. This, this idea, this experience plays into the empathy thing, the key insight of knowing how your customer is feeling, but it also plays into becoming a problem solver in your business. I mean, at the end of the day, that's what a business is, isn't it? It solves problems for our, uh, customers. So just because it's done a certain way, it doesn't make it right. Think laterally. If you're the boss, think laterally. If you are employing people, give them permission to think laterally. Give them permission to ask you questions to solve problems that will make your customers love you forever. If you're a longtime listener of the podcast, you may well know the concept of killer questions if you listen to episode 75. Way back then, I interviewed Phil McKinney, who was the vice president of Hewlett Packard at the time, but he'd also written a book called Killer Innovations. And it's underpinned by all these killer questions. And a killer question is simply a question that forces you to, to look at a problem from an unusual angle. So in this kind of idea that I'm sharing around my experience, I'm sharing around my optometrist, ask, um, this killer question. What would. And insert someone you respect that sees solutions and not problems do so, you know, um, yeah, what would, um, a Formula One racing team do? Hey, they're problem solvers at the speed of sound. Or maybe there's someone in Your life that is just a great problem solver. What would they do? How would they solve the problem in your business? To help customers know that you're constantly thinking about them and constantly looking for an elegant, quick, cost effective solution. Because a two week replacement on prescription glasses is just not good enough. I get it. The technology probably takes a long time. There's probably a cue. They might have been sent offshore. I don't know. I don't care actually. I just want to see. Ask yourself a, uh, killer question. Episode 75. I'll put a link in the show notes. All right. Uh, lastly, I want to finish with a question. I'd like your input. What would you do in this situation? Got my hair cut this week. My favourite local barbershop and there is always a queue. And when I say a queue, I'm talking. More often than not I will walk in there and there is 8, 10, 12 blokes waiting to have their hair cut. Okay. You can't make an appointment, you can't take a number, nothing. You just gotta hope for the best, keep track of where you are in the queue, have the odd punch on. It's a bit like that the barbershop I go to, but it's really frustrating. Probably 50% of the time I put my head in, go, it's too busy, walk out again. Why I don't go to another barber shop? I was going to say I don't know. Well, I do know because I enjoy going there. It's social, Get a free beer and you get a good haircut. But I really don't like waiting and I'm always torn. Do I go to another barbers? Where's my loyalty lie? I spoke to the owner. How he said if I hand out numbers, people disappear. They don't turn up back in time, they get crossed when they lose their spot. It's all too complicated. But at the bottom line, I think as business owners, we need to be looking at our business through the eyes of our customers. Because without them, no business. That's simple. Always look at your business through the eyes of your customers. So I'd love to know what you would do. Or maybe you're a business that has a lot of queue, gets busy and has queues. One thing I learned when I was the marketing manager at flight centre was to serve the customer in front of you and not the queue, which is a good one. I understand that, but it doesn't help the fact that there's a whole lot of people behind the customer you're serving who are waiting. So at the very least acknowledge that, you know they're there. And the guys at the barbers that I go to do acknowledge when you walk in the door, which is nice, at least kind of say, oh, yeah, gotcha, know you're there. But yeah, it can be very, very frustrating. So what would you do? I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. Feel free to leave a comment in the Facebook tribe, the Business Big marketing tribe over on Facebook or just give us a buzz. I'll say that number again. 048-001-5150. Well, they are, uh, some of the experiences that I've had this week. Hope you enjoyed this little episode of the Small Business Big Marketing podcast. It's lovely to be back. Thank you for, uh, the beautiful comments so many of you left on my Facebook, my LinkedIn. You texted me, you called me, um, and just hit me up saying welcome back, Timbo, and love your work and all means so much, so, so much. I've replied to every single one of you. I think if I haven't, I will certainly get around to it. But it's lovely to be back. Like I said, I'm going to be doing episodes when I find a business that I'm absolutely fascinated in, absolutely curious about, or when I rack up enough little experiences, uh, like I have this week that I want to share with you. If you like this format, it's a new format, let us know. Uh, you can tell me on the Facebook tribe over, uh, at Facebook, Small Business Big Marketing tribe or give us a bar. 048-001-5150 please. If I could ask one thing, please subscribe to this podcast. It means the world to me. It helps it grow, it contributes to the ranking of my podcast, all that stuff. And if you're loving it, please share it with any business owning friends that you may have. That would help them and it will certainly help me. In the meantime, may your marketing be the absolute best marketing. Timbo Reed, signing out from the Small Business Big Marketing podcast. Bye for now.